Geography

Mountainous Lesotho, the size of Maryland, is
surrounded by the Republic of South Africa.

Government

Parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

History

Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) was constituted as a
native state under British protection by a treaty signed with the native
chief Moshoeshoe in 1843. It was annexed to Cape Colony in 1871, but in
1884 it was restored to direct control by the Crown. The colony of
Basutoland became the independent nation of Lesotho on Oct. 4, 1966, with
King Moshoeshoe II as sovereign.

In the 1970 elections, Ntsu Mokhehle, head of
the Basutoland Congress Party, claimed a victory, but Prime Minister
Leabua Jonathan declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution,
and arrested Mokhehle. King Moshoeshoe II was briefly exiled.

After the king refused to approve the
replacement in Feb. 1990 of individuals dismissed by Justin Metsino
Lekhanya, the chairman of the military council, the latter stripped the
king of his executive power. Then in early March, Lekhanya sent the king
into exile. In November, the king was dethroned, and his son was sworn in
as King Letsie III.

Lekhanya was himself forced to resign in April
1991, and Col. Ramaema became the new chairman in May. In Jan. 1995, he abdicated in favor of his father
, Moshoeshoe II. Letsie again
became crown prince. In 1996, however, King Moshoeshoe died in an
automobile accident, and Letsie again assumed the throne.

In fall 1998, hundreds of demonstrators
protested for weeks in front of the king's palace, claiming voting fraud
in the May elections that put Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in power.
They demanded that the government step down and hold new elections. Troops
from South Africa and Botswana entered the country to stop the riots and
put down an army mutiny. In 2002, Mosisili was reelected under a revised
political system that gave opposition parties a larger role in
Parliament.